Firearm.



Patented Feb. 20, I900. J. A. BENNETT.

FIREARM.

(Application filed Sept. 20, 1899.) N o M o d e l avwewboz [0530]: A- Bennehfl .m: Noams pzrzns co, wuom umou WASHINGTON. u. c

TINTTEE STATES PATENT OEErcE.

JOSEPH A. BENNETT, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES H. A. F. L. ROSS,'OF BALNAGOWAN CASTLE, COUNTY OF ROSS, SCOTLAND.

FIREARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643, 935, dated. February 20, leoo.

Application filed September 20,1899. $erial No. 731,084. (No model.) I

Improvements in Firearms, of which the following is a specification.

In the following specification and in the accompanying drawings 1 have shown my invention as applied to a straight-pull breech mechanism of the general character of that described in the application of Charles H. A. F. L. Ross for improvements in firearms,

filed in the United States Patent Office on the.

29th day of -Decernber,1897, and serially numbered 664,364, although my invention in several of its features is broad enough to cover the use of such features with breech mechanisms other than the straight-pull type.

This invention more particularly relates to means for securing the firing-pin in place, whereby it may be readily dismounted without the use of tools; to means for preventing the jarring open of the breech, which has heretofore happened when guns of the breechbolt type have been roughly handled, as at drill; to means for locking the firing-pin in its normal position, and in a safety-lock for engaging the firing-pin when the latter has been retracted, thus preventing accidental discharge of the gun, in combinationwith the breech-lock.

The several devices heretofore referred to will be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved breech mechanism shown as closed, parts of .the receiver and gun-stock being broken away for the purpose of illustrating the construction of the ejector. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on lines X X of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, with the firing-pin retracted. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the safety-lock latch. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section through the breech-bolt and firing-pin contained therein. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the cocking-head nut. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the catch-head.

The barrel 1 is secured to the forward end of the receiver 2, provided with the guidinggrooves and lockingshoulders common to straight-pull breech mechanism. The breechpiece, comprising the sleeve 2, hollow breechbolt 3, and firing-pin 4 and parts operating in connection therewith, moves longitudinally in the receiver, the construction of the parts being such that the breech-bolt is rotated to lock the breech closed by the forward movement of the sleeve and is rotated in a reversed direction to unlock the breech by a rearward movement of the sleeve.

The firing-pin 4 extends axially through the breech-bolt and is driven forwardly therein by a coiled spring 5, interposed between a shoulder upon the firing-pin and a screw-plug- 6, with a milled head 7 closing the rear of the bore of the breech-bolt. A suitable extractor (not shown) is mounted on and moves with the sleeve, while a spring-pressed ejector 9 projects through the receiver into the path of the cartridge when the latter is drawn back by the extractor and throws the fired shell out of the receiver.

The several parts hereinbefore referred to are well known in the art, and therefore need no detailed description, except in so far as they may have been modified in adding them to my present invention.

The firing-pin 4projects rearwardly through the plug 6 of the breech-bolt to receive the catch-head and cocking-head. The catchhead 10 has a shoulder 11 thereon provided with full-cock and safety-stop notches 12 and 13, respectively, and is slid upon the firingpin, the parts having a flattened face 14 to prevent relative rotation. The forward end of the central aperture of the catch-head is counterbored to receive a spiral spring 14, the forward end of which bears against a washer 15, interposed between it and the rear face of the screw-plug 6. The catch-head is secured in place by the cooking not or head 16, which is mounted upon the threaded rear end of the firing-pin and serves as a handle to permit the pin to be cooked. For the purpose of holding the cooking head or nut against working 03 the firing-pin under the jars to which it is subjected I provide the forward end thereof with a radial groove 17, adapted to receive a corresponding radial shoulder upon the rear end of the catch-head when the nut has been turned fully home.

In practice I provide several radial grooves 17 in order to permit the described engagement to take place at a plurality of points on each rotation of the nut. In screwing up or taking off the nut the catch-head may be moved forwardly on the firing-pin by engaging the projecting shoulder ll thereof, compressing the spring 14 and disengaging the radial rib and groove. When the nut has been brought to the desired point, the catchhead may be released and the spring 14 will again force the shoulder and groove into ongagement, thus locking the parts together and preventing the accidental loosening of the cooking head or nut.

To prevent the accidental opening of the breech, I cut in the rear part of the sleeve a transverse slot 19 and pivot therein a latch 20, the shape of which is shown in detail in Fig. 4. In the normal position of the latchpiece in the slot the face 2O thereof registers with the side face 2 of the sleeve; but when the latch-piece by means of its nose 20 is manually thrown over to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 its tail 2O enters a vertical slot 21 in the wall of the receiver and by engaging the face formed thereby prevents the movement of the sleeve in the receiver. I also make use of this movement of the latch to lock the firing-pin in its normal position, and this I accomplish by extending the slot in the sleeve down to the central bore thereof and by forming upon the latch a curved face 20, which in the normal position of the latch registers with the inner wall of such bore, so that the catch-head contained within such bore may move freely. A second tailpiece 20 is formed upon the latch, and upon the movement of the latch to engage the receiver, as before described, this tail enters a notch 22 in the catch-head and prevents the firing-pin from being retracted. As the catch-head is in this construction necessarily contained within the rear end of the sleeve, the shoulder 11 upon the former is extended through a longitudinal slot 11 in the lower side of the sleeve into proximity with the sear 23. I also utilize the latch for the purpose of affording a safety-catch to prevent the accidental release of the firing-pin when it has been retracted, and this is effected upon throwing the latch over to engage the receiver by the engagement of the tail 2O with the forward face of the catch-head, the firing-pin having been moved rearwardly. To prevent the discharge of the gun upon the release of the latch and pin, which might otherwise result if the trigger were pulled while the latch 1 was in its locking position, I form upon the tail 2O of the latch and the front end of the cockin -head inclined faces 20 and 10 respectively, whereby as the latch is thrown into locking position the faces act to cam the firing-pin slightly to the rear, thus relieving the sear of pressure in order that should it be moved while the pin is locked it will meet with no frictional resistance in moving back into full engagement with the full-cock notch 12 upon the head.

For the purpose of holding the latch in either of the positions in which it may be manually set (shown in full and dotted lines in Fig. 2) I provide on the latch a face 20, inclined to the face or tail 20 and at their junction forming a shoulder 20 and, forming a suitable rccess 20 in the sleeve, insert therein a sprin pressed pin 20 the pin bearing against one or the other of the faces 20 20 and preventing the latch from being jarred from the position in which it may have been set, but at the same time yielding to permit the passage past it of the shoulder 2O when the latch is manually thrown.

For the purpose of reducing the space oc= cupicd by the ejector I prefer to insert in the tail of the ejector and in the rear of its pivot 24 one end of a fiat spring 25, the body of which lies in a longitudinal groove 26, formed along the outer side wall of the receiver. By this construction all extension of the ejector beyond the receiver is prevented except the slight swell at the pivotal point, the nose of the ejector extending forwardly from the pivotal point through a slot 27 in the wall of the receiver.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a firing-pin, of a catch head mounted thereon and locked against rotation, a cocking-nut threaded upon the firing-pin, the nut and head having engaging ribs and grooves, and a spring for forcing the catch-head against the nut, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a firing-pin, of a catch-head carried upon the pin and held from rotation thereon, the forward end of the catch-head being counterbored, a spring contained within the counterbored end of the catch-head, and a cocking-nut threaded upon the firing-pin in the rear of the catch-head, the catch-head and nut being provided with engaging ribs and recesses to prevent'the rotation of the nut, substantially as described.

3. The combination in a straight pull breech mechanism with a recessed receiver, of a sleeve, and a movable latch mounted on the sleeve and adapted to engage the recess in the receiver when the breech is closed, substantially as described.

4.. In a straight-pull breech mechanism the combination with a receiver having a lockingface thereon, of a sleeve sliding longitudinally in the receiver, a firing-pin contained in the sleeve and having a locking-face thereon, and a latch pivoted in the sleeve and adapted to engage simultaneously the locking-faces in the receiver and firing-pin when the parts are in their normal position, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a receiver having a locking-face thereon, of a sleeve sliding in the receiver, a firing-pin sliding in the sleeve and having locking-faces thereon correspond- Signed by me at Hartford, Connecticut, this ing to full-cooked and normal positions, and 12th day of September, 1899. a latch pivoted to the sleeve and adapted to engage the locking-face in the receiver and 5 either of the locking-faces upon the firing-pin, Witnesses:

dependent upon the position of the latter, GEO. A. REYNOLDS, substantially as described. EVERETT E. ARNOLD.

JOSEPH A. BENNETT. 

